


Limitless

by sweetcinnamonbun



Series: Superhuman [6]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, But it can also stand alone, Coming to terms with your past and powers, M/M, Mark is really powerful but he doesn't know that yet, Other ships and tags to be added as they happen, Yuta's POV, mentioned YuWin but only kinda, mentions of experimentation, not explicitly, this connects with Basquiat and Moonwalk pretty explicitly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-16 01:22:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28822893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetcinnamonbun/pseuds/sweetcinnamonbun
Summary: “Are you like us?”“What, exactly, is like you?” I asked after a moment to contemplate things.He thought for a moment before grabbing a rock from the ground, holding it out with his hand palm-up as he concentrated. His tongue stuck out a bit, his brows furrowed, and the rock very gently lifted into the air, rising slowly. “We’re special,” he concluded.Or: Yuta's a powerful superhuman who has mostly kept to himself. Everything changes when he meets a boy that everything and everyone seems to gravitate to.
Relationships: Mark Lee/Nakamoto Yuta
Series: Superhuman [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1908217
Comments: 4
Kudos: 26





	1. The Beginning

There were times where it felt as though every step I took with my friends had been full of lies.

I lied about parts of my powers.

I lied about whether or not I’d ever been captured.

I lied to protect myself, because I’d been through more than I could ever tell them.

I suppose it had all started when I’d gotten the chance to study in Korea. It was a great opportunity and I’d been lucky enough to go. I’d visit my parents during breaks and I’d be a little homesick, but I could handle that.

It’s not like anyone expected the world to go sideways.

Honestly, I hadn’t gone back home when the world was supposed to end because my parents and I were arguing.

Maybe I should have. Maybe things would have been different.

Too late to know now.

I had been too close to where one of the meteors hit and then I guess I’d fainted. When I woke up, I wasn’t human anymore. I was a test subject.

Apparently, the mutagen caused my DNA to change. The very fabric of me shifted into something else, and there were scientists wanting to know every detail of what I was.

There were others, too.

I’d be woken up for another round of tests, greeting the zombie boy who was in the same testing room, trying to be cheerful about the situation. He didn’t say much to me, but I like to think he enjoyed my one-sided banter.

I didn’t know how long I was there, but the moment there was an opening to run, I took it.

I was on the run for a few weeks before I ran into them.

I’d been hiding in an alley, hugging my knees to my chest and breathing hard as the footsteps grew ever closer. I could feel the fear building as tears welled up in my eyes. Whoever they were, they were getting close, and they were going to find me. I’d only just buried my face as best as I could when a hand reached out to my shoulder and gently shook.

The voice that spoke was small, “You okay?”

Slowly, I lifted my head, meeting the bright eyes of a boy - definitely younger than me - with dirt-covered clothes and a bright smile. He offered a hand to pull me up, calling out to others when I refused to move.

One of them, someone about my age, walked over. He eyed me cautiously a moment before turning back to the boy. “Everything okay, Mark?” he asked, patting the boy’s head lightly.

“I think he might be hurt,” the boy - Mark - answered, nodding his head towards me. “Can we do anything?”

“Markie,” the other sighed, cooing slightly, “Not everyone on the street needs or wants help.”

“But Dongyoung,” the kid whined, causing another person to jog over.

“Dongyoung,” the newcomer sighed, running his fingers through his dark red hair, “Why is my son whining?”

“Your s-... Yong, you only found him three weeks ago!” Dongyoung groaned, “And he’s found three more strays since. Like a damn superhuman tracker.”

Mark bristled slightly at the comment before coming to sit next to me while the others continued to talk, stretching his shorter legs out. “They get like this a lot,” he explained, “Are you like us?”

“What, exactly, is like you?” I asked after a moment to contemplate things.

He thought for a moment before grabbing a rock from the ground, holding it out with his hand palm-up as he concentrated. His tongue stuck out a bit, his brows furrowed, and the rock very gently lifted into the air, rising slowly. “We’re special,” he concluded.

“How do you do it?” I asked and he shrugged.

“Focus.”

Considering it, I held out my hand, “May I?” He nodded and I very lightly touched his hand, concentrating with all my might on not messing this up as I picked up another rock and lifted it into the air. It wasn’t telekinesis, as I’d originally thought. No, this kid had gravity bending to his whim. _Definitely _special.__

__He looked in awe. “We have the same powers?”_ _

__“Not exactly,” I sighed, “I just borrowed them for a little bit.”_ _

__A moment passed before he gave another grin, “I’m Mark.”_ _

__I nodded, returning his smile with a smaller one of my own, “My name’s Yuta.”_ _


	2. The Others

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An introduction to the others of Mark's travelling companions.
> 
> This one's pretty backstory heavy, as a fair warning.

I guess it comes as no surprise that I joined them after that.

Taeyong was kind and never pushed me to talk about my past. He was like the leader of their group and he knew everyone’s powers. More importantly, he knew how to keep the delicate peace between everyone. His own past was just as guarded as my own and only Dongyoung seemed to know anything about it.

Dongyoung, on the other hand, was less trusting of me. Or, at the very least, he wasn't willing to keep his reservations about me quiet. Annoyingly, his own powers allowed him to multiply, and so he always had an eye on me, one of his copies watching me intently for weeks for any sign of a slip-up. It seemed irritating and overbearing at the start, but I knew he was just keeping an eye out for the others.

They'd found Mark by accident, which I'd found out from the kid pretty early on. He'd been in hiding with a handful of other superhumans. Some of them would be taken for a time and returned beaten and bloody. He never knew what had taken place, only that one day, Taeyong and Dongyoung had opened the door to where he was hiding and he'd been following them since.

Taeyong seemed to tense for a moment at the mention of it all, glancing at Dongyoung for a moment before he spoke. "Superhuman fighting rings," he explained when he noticed my confusion, "Humanity likes to forget that's what we started off as. Make us fight to keep our freedom or they'll sell us out to the authorities." He shook a bit, steam rising from his fingertips. "I saw people die in fights like that. Someone as young as Mark shouldn't have even been considered for a fight."

Yoonoh shook his head, letting out a scoffing sound. "They don't care. We're just like fighting dogs to them. Decent humans don't exist anymore. Not when people can exploit us."

There was a story there, but they hadn't pushed for mine, so I paid them that same kindness, instead focusing on Mark as Jungwoo held him in a headlock and ruffled his hair, the boy shrieking in laughter as he tried to squirm his way out of the grip.

Taeyong was still shaking when I looked back at him, steam now billowing from his hands as he chewed on his lip. Dongyoung had sidled up next to him very carefully reaching out to touch Taeyong's hands. "It's okay, Taeyongie. You're okay. We're not there anymore. You're safe." He hissed slightly as his fingertips made contact with Taeyong's hands, wincing as they covered them fully. "I'm here." A moment passed like that before Taeyong noticed the hands on his and drew his own back, shaking off any residual heat before turning Dongyoung's palm facing up and scowled at the red burns on them.

"Dongyoung..." he started, before blowing an icy breath to sooth them. "I told you to stop doing that." It was hard to miss the soft pink on Dongyoung's cheeks as Taeyong rubbed each of Dongyoung's hands between his own. When he let go, the burns had lessened significantly. "Please... Don't do that again. You always get hurt."

"And you always make it better," Dongyoung answered, folding his hands in his lap and moving away just a bit.

They were just like that, I'd learned over the weeks I'd spent with them. I didn't plan to stay for long, but it became harder to leave, especially knowing that Mark would be upset if he did.

It had been about six weeks that I was with them that Mark had once more found some other superhumans hiding in an abandoned building: A young man who could hardly be older than me who was guarding a boy who looked younger than Mark.

The young man stood between us and the boy, raising his fists. He winced slightly, bruised and a bit beaten, his shoulder cracking as he took his stance. "Don't come any closer," he warned, turning his head just barely towards the boy behind him, "Hyuckie, stay behind me."

Shaking his head, the boy grabbed his shirt, trying to tug him back. "No, hyung! You're hurt."

"I'm fine," the young man gritted out.

Unphased by it all, Mark walked past the rest of us to inch towards them, making eye contact with the boy. "Hi," he said cheerfully.

"Mark," Dongyoung warned, reaching for his shoulder to hold him back, "stay back."

The boy held tighter to his guardian's shirt, his eyes flashing a dangerous gold, "Tell me if you're here to hurt us." It was almost like we were compelled to answer, Yoonoh's "only if you start it" being drowned out by Mark's "Of course not!" and Dongyoung and Taeyong's "No?". The boy tugged the shirt in his grip twice. "See, hyung?" The young man lowered his fist slowly, still on his guard, especially when the boy stepped out from behind him to address a curious Mark. "I'm Donghyuck." He looked back at his companion. "That's Taeil. He's hurt. Can.. Can you help him?"

Taeil sighed, frowning slightly. "Hyuck, we don't know if they're like us."

"But they're gross like us! They probably _are_ like us."

"That- that doesn't mean anything, Donghyuck!"

Mark grinned, picking up a rock and making it float like he had with me, much to Dongyoung's disapproval, but it hardly deterred him.

"Telekinesis?" Donghyuck asked, watching the rock closely as it floated up and up, finally settling against the ceiling.

I snorted, shaking my head. It was the general assumption for his powers, but I knew better at this point. "No, he's controlling gravity," I answered, "Which I didn't know was a thing until him." Everyone turned to look at me, a question hanging in the air, judging by the looks in their eyes. "I learned when I borrowed his powers." Turning to Donghyuck, I smirked, "And that kid has mind control."

Donghyuck blinked a few times before laughing, "See, Illie? They're okay."

Taeil was still tense, even when we were all safely hidden in Jungwoo's pocket dimension and Taeyong was looking over his wounds. Donghyuck was never too far away from him, sitting nearby if he wasn't allowed to hold his hand.

Seeing them up close, it was almost too apparent that Taeil had been taking as much care as he could of Donghyuck. While it looked like he had lost weight in the time that they'd been on the run, Donghyuck's face was still fleshed out. When Taeyong asked about it while Donghyuck slept one night, Taeil had admitted to him that since Donghyuck was still growing, he needed the food more. He could handle a little hunger so long as his dongsaeng was doing well.

Of the two of them, Donghyuck was the more open of them, willingly explaining their circumstances one night when Taeil was asleep and Taeyong had shooed him away. He'd joined us around a small electric burner that Yoonoh was powering with the lighting from his fingertips as Dongyoung made ramyeon for the lot of us, everyone pitching in to help throw it together.

He hugged his knees to his chest, looking at a spot on the ground. "Hyungie interned for my uncle at a lab. When everything happened..." He paused, letting out a scoff. "Illie was really nice to me before. Helped me with my homework a lot. He looked out for me. And then we both got powers. He..." Another pause as he cast a glance at the sleeping Taeil, covered lightly by Donghyuck's coat. "Taeil-hyung gets stronger with the moon... Like the tides. Like the waterbenders in Avatar! But better, because it's him."

Dongyoung paused his stirring to listen, continuing after a bit. "So what happened?"

Chewing on his lip, Donghyuck considered before answering, "He couldn't control it... Not at first. And then he went missing. When my powers showed up, I got scared. My parents found out and they sent me to my uncle, because I think they thought he was working on a cure for it, but... But they weren't. He was in bad shape when I saw him again, but he made sure I was okay. They tried to see how far I could control someone one day... Wanted me to drive him to hurt himself, so I broke us free."

There was a sobering silence as we processed his story, Donghyuck picking at his nails with a small frown.

"So how do you know he protects you willingly?" Dongyoung finally asked, breaking the silence.

"Because," Donghyuck sighed, "The only order I've given him is to never take my orders." Again, he focused on the ground in front of him. "He keeps getting hurt because of me, though. So I have to keep an eye on him so he doesn't get himself killed."

A few more days passed, and Taeil was looking much better. Donghyuck made sure that he ate, but had slowly started getting used to Mark, the two of them finding ways to play with one another with whatever Yoonoh brought for them. It was a football this time, the two of them kicking it back and forth on the empty land of Jungwoo's hidden world until Donghyuck kicked it too hard, hitting Mark in the stomach and shrieking in laughter at the sudden "oof!".

Taeil watched, almost distantly, as he stood next to Taeyong. "Thank you for helping us. I don't know that I can ever repay you for everything you've done."

Shrugging, Taeyong answered, "There's no need to repay."

"Then can I ask a favor?" Taeyong gave a short nod in reply. "Even if I can't stay, please take care of Donghyuck. You can send me away to fend for myself, but Donghyuck... He's special. He needs to be around other people, not just me. I... I don't think I can protect him the way he needs someone to."

Taeyong looked baffled a moment, "Why would we send you away?"

And we didn't. Taeil and Donghyuck became staples of out little group, if only because of the fact that they were damn near inseparable.


	3. The Birthday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How they celebrate their birthdays, but wild

On my eighteenth birthday, I’d kept, for the most part, to myself. Most of them seemed to take notice of this, but Mark was the one to ask. I hesitated in telling him, but finally gave in to that wide-eyed stare.

“It’s my birthday,” I sighed, “And I’m on the run instead of being back home with my family.”

A momentary look of realization passed over his face, and he pulled his knees tightly to his chest. “I had a birthday without my family, too.”

I guess, in that moment, it hit me how little I knew of the people I was on the run with. I knew the most about Mark, but it was still so terribly little. “Where are your parents?”

“Back in Vancouver,” he answered, “I was gonna do big things here. That’s what my brother said.”

I nodded absently, “That’s a lot further than Osaka.”

There was a moment we sat in silence before he stood up, a look of resolution on his face. “I’m gonna go with Yoonoh to get supplies.”

Again, I nodded, not really understanding his reasonings until later that night while everyone huddled inside the pocket dimension that Jungwoo could access to sleep. He shook me awake, before motioning me to follow him a bit further from the others. He sat down and I took a seat across from him, leaving a bit of a gap between us. He dug in his pocket and pulled a little plastic-wrapped custard cake from it.

“Happy birthday, hyung,” he whispered, holding it out for me. “I know it’s nothing like what you’d have at home, but you’re one of us, now.”

I smiled to myself, debating on whether or not I should hide the cake away like it was something precious to be savored, but with Mark's expectant, wide-eyed stare, it wasn't long until I was carefully peeling open the wrapping. I cast a careful glance around before taking a small bite. It had been months since I'd had something so delightfully sweet and it almost felt forbidden. I hummed to myself, catching Mark subtly licking his lips, his eyes glued to the cake. Sighing, I ripped off a piece for him, offering it.

"Don't make me eat all this birthday cake by myself," I chuckled, amused by his sudden shock. "Think of my figure."

After a skeptical look, he took the bit of cake from me, popping it into his mouth as a smile took over his face. He deserved to smile like that more often. And maybe that's what started the tradition of sneaking each other treats that we couldn't usually enjoy with our limited budget, but sticky fingers really had no spending limit.

It was nice, almost as though we were allowing each other a little bit of normalcy in the horrific world we now lived in.

On his 15th birthday, I'd managed to not only sneak him a couple of his favorite snacks, but also a candle, lighter and a banana milk. We'd snuck off to a spot a bit further away, where the others couldn't see or hear what we were up to and I'd carefully unwrapped the little cake, sticking the candle into it and peering over my shoulder before I lit it.

"Make a wish," I whispered, urging him to be quick about it before someone caught on.

He nodded, thinking a moment before closing his eyes and blowing out the single candle.

The next moments were a blur. There was a sudden small popping sound, and then there was someone standing between the two of us, the cake crushed beneath a well-worn sneaker. My gaze wandered up, taking in the tall stranger and letting out a shriek and nearly falling backwards while Mark seemed to still be processing what had happened.

We were in Jungwoo's dimension. He was the only person who could access it. So now how the hell was a tall stranger standing on top of a fucking birthday cake?

He looked just as confused as we were, "Where the hell..?"

Before I could collect myself, Taeyong, Yoonoh, Dongyoung and Taeil had come to check on us.

"Hey! Who are you and how the _fuck_ did you get here?" Yoonoh yelled, staying a bit away, electricity crackling at his fingertips.

The newcomer rapidly looked around at his surroundings. "No, who are _you_ and why did you kidnap me?!"

They bickered for a little while, both too stubborn to back down n their own. Taeyong had tried to calm them down before it turned into a fight, since we didn't exactly know what the hell we were dealing with, and the guy could have been a threat. Dongyoung had even made two copies of himself to separate them, trying to help Taeyong with being the voice of reason.

"Oi! Move!" Donghyuck pushed past everyone else to stand between Yoonoh and the stranger. His eyes flashed gold again as he glared at the two. "Calm the fuck down!" And everyone did (save for Taeil, who clicked his tongue in disappointment and quietly warned him to watch his language), the wave of power the came from the boy washing over everyone near him. He turned to the stranger, his eyes still that intense shade of gold. "Tell us who you are."

The stranger looked around nervously, but Donghyuck's demands were impossible to ignore. "I'm Johnny." He took a deep breath. "Anyone wanna explain why you brought me here?"


End file.
